The Department of Energy (DOE) has wrapped up the fourth Green Energy Auction (GEA-4), awarding 88 percent of the targeted capacity across ground-mounted and floating solar, onshore wind, and integrated solar with energy storage systems (IRESS).

In a statement, the DOE has reported that the preliminary auction results showed 9,423 megawatts (MW) worth of subscribed renewable (RE) capacity, which is below the initial installation target of 10,653 MW.

“These commitments came from a total of 111 accepted bids, underscoring the robust response of the private sector to the government’s call for clean energy investment,” it said.

While the majority of the target capacity has been auctioned off, some of the floating solar, onshore wind, and IRESS technologies were left unsubscribed.

According to the DOE, these unsubscribed capacities will be offered to other qualified bidders whose bids exceeded the initial targets, to ensure all opportunities for RE are maximized.

Winning bidders for GEA-4 will then need to submit their post-auction requirements, including the affidavit of undertaking, performance bond, and system impact study (SIS), to ensure that their committed renewable capacities are realized and technically verified for grid connection.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin believes that the auction would help the country achieve its energy transition goals to a 35-percent RE share in the power generation mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

“The results of GEA-4 affirm the strong partnership between government and the private sector in driving RE deployment. By securing over 9,000 MW of new clean energy commitments, and by offering unsubscribed installation targets to other eligible bidders, we are ensuring that our transition is ambitious, inclusive, and resilient,” she said.

After this successful bidding round, the DOE’s GEA-5, which will cover the country’s first offshore wind developments, requires further refinements to its non-price criteria.

Non-price criteria are applied to larger-scale projects with significant environmental and community impacts. For offshore wind, the DOE adopted these measures to account for port and transmission line access.

With GEA-5 deferred to the fourth quarter of 2025, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan said the commission is now preparing ahead to set the auction’s reserve price.

“We are just waiting for the DOE’s announcement when we should be starting the process for setting the reserve price to be used for the round of auctioning,” he said in an ambush interview.

“Even then, we are actually starting preparations. Our team has actually been already doing the numbers and determining what costs to use in the model that we used in setting the GEAR [reserve] price.”

The ERC determines the GEAR price of an auction by setting a maximum rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) that developers can bid. This was designed to keep rates consumer-friendly and affordable, and to attract more investments.

Last June, the ERC set GEA-4 ceiling rates at ₱5.68/kWh for rooftop solar, ₱4.4832/kWh for ground-mounted solar, ₱6.528/kWh for floating solar, and ₱5.4028/kWh for IRESS.

Onshore wind, on the other hand, had a ₱6.0859/kWh price cap.

“We are quite certain at some point it [GEA-5] will move, and it will be declared and it will be conducted. So we have to be prepared,” Juan said.